Assembling apparatus.



PATENTED MAY 21, 1907. v

N. MARSHALL. ASSEMBLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.23, 1906.

2 8HEBTSSHEET 1.

T llllu lllll n rs: NORRIS PETERS ca, WASHINOYON, u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

ASSEMBLING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 190'?" Original application filed January 19, 1905,Serial No. 241,884. Divided and this application filed April 23,1906.Serial No. 318,102-

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN MARSHALL, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Newton, county of MiddleseX, Massachusetts,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n AssemblingApparatus, of

which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a machine or apparatus for use in assembllngthe parts of electric devices such for instance as switches, lampsockets, cut-outs, etc., and its ob ect is to provide for the rapid andeconomical assembling and securing together of the parts of the devicebeing operated upon.

In practicing the invention the operation of driving the screws forsecuring the parts I together .is performed automatically while theparts to be secured together are supported and carried by a series ofjigs. The screws by which the parts are secured together areautomatically fed and delivered into the recesses for receiving them.The jigs are so mounted and moved that they travel successively firstinto position to receive the screw or screws by which the parts are tobe secured together and then into position where the screw or screws areoperated upon by the screw driving mechanism, the screw deliveringmechanism and the screw driving mechanism operating to deliver and drivethe screws during the interval between successive movements of thecarrier on which the jigs are mounted.

In embodying the broader features of the invention in a machineespecially adapted for use in assembling parts which are to be securedtogether by a plurality of screws, I have employed certain furtherfeatures of invention for increasing the rapidity with which such partsmay be secured together.

For the purpose of illustrating the various features of the invention Ihave shown in the accompanying drawings a mechanism de signed moreespecially for use in assembling parts of an incandescent lamp socketand have shown this mechanism as forming a part of a machine in whichother operations incident to the assembling of the parts ofasocket areperformed. The mechanism which I have shown for illustrating the variousfeatures of the invention is especially designed for assembling andsecuring together the screw shell of an incandescent lamp socket and theporcelain base and the parts are constructed and arranged to deliver anddrive the two screws which are employed for securing the screw shell tothe base and the jigs so much of the machine as is required toillustrate the mechanisms embodying the features of the presentinvention. Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in section. Fig. 3 is anenlarged detail view showing the screw feeding and delivering mechanism.Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the screw drivingmechanism; and Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are details of one of the jigs forsupporting the parts.

In the machine illustrated in the drawings the screws for securing thescrew shell to the porcelain base of a socket are driven by a screwdriving mechanism indicated at F in Fig. 2, to which the parts to beassembled and secured together are presented by a series of jigs, one ofwhich is indicated at G in Fig. 3. These jigs are secured in a circularseries upon a horizontal table A arranged below the screw drivingmechanism and intermittently rotated to bring the jigs successively intoposition beneath the screw driving mechanism. Each of the jigs Gcomprises a plate g adapted to support the porcelain base 1 of thesocket and this plate is provided with two pins 9 projecting upward andarranged to engage the central recess in the base and one of the slotsprovided in the periphery of the base for the passage of the line wire.The square nuts 6 are positioned in proper relation to the base by meansof recesses 9 formed in the plate g. The bottoms of the recesses areformed by rods g projecting upward from the base plate 9 of the jig andextending through the block g on which the plate g is secured. Thecarrying plate g of the jig is yieldingly supported upon the spring 9 sothat the porcelain base may pass downward as the screws 5 which securethe screw shell to the base are screwed into the nuts 6. During thedownward movement of the porcelain base as thescrews 5 are screwed intothe nuts 6, the rods 9 will pass up into the recesses 6 thus followingthe nuts 6 as the screws 5 are driven into them. The block g and plate.9 are held in normal position against the tension of the spring 9 bymeans of a bolt g screwed into the base plate around the screw .arecontinuously vibrated by means g and having its head playing in a recessin the block.

During the operation of the machine the table A is intermittentlyadvanced and during the intervals between the advance movements of thetable the operator places the nuts 6 in the recesses g and then placesthe porcelain base 1 in position upon the jig. The operator also placesthe screw shell 4 in position on the porcelain base. The shell ismaintained in proper position upon the base by means of the projectingedges of the metal holes which enters the countersunk ends of the holesor recesses 1 in the base. After the parts have been. placed upon thejigs G as above indicated they are successively brought by the travel ofthe table A into position to receive the screws 5. The screws 5 aresupplied to oppositely arranged guide chutes h from hoppers h by meansof vibrating separator plates 7L whiich o' a crank pin h connected withthe plates by links h.

The screws 5 at the ends of the guide chutes are separated from theseries of screws in the guideways and transferred to the holes 1 in theporcelain base by means of an electro-magnet 7L5 carried by a block hwhich reciprocates between the ends of the guide chutes. The block h issecured to the lower end of a bar 7L7 mounted in suitable guideways andoperated by a cam h secured to the end of a constantly rotating shaftlbs. The upper end of the bar W is held in engagement with the cam bymeans of a spring 7?.

When the block h is in its upper position as indicated in Fig. 3, theelectro-magnet h is energized and attracts the two screws 5 at the endsof the guideways h. \Vhen the block h descends these screws are carrieddown by the magnet while the sides of the block h above the magnetretain the succeeding screws in the guideways. The downward movement ofthe block h carries the-screws 5 downward until their lower ends passthrough the holes in the shell 4 and into the holes 1 in the porcelainbase. The mag net is then deenergized so that the screws are releasedand drop freely into the holes 1. The block h then returns to its upperposition and as it reaches its upper position the magnet ha is againenergized to attract the screws 5 at the end of the guide chutes.

Any suitable devices for causing the magnet to be energized anddeenergized at the proper times, may be employed and in Fig. 3

I have illustrated diagrammatically one form of such devices. As shownin this view one end of the magnet wire is connected with the source ofelectrical supply through the metallic arts of the mechanism, while theother en of the magnet wire isconnected to an insulated contact finger hwhich rides against an insulated contact bar h. The

contact bar h is connected with the source of electrical supply througha connection h in which is introduced a switch h. As the bar 7L7 reachesits up er position an arm h rojecting from said ar operates the switchIt to close the electric circuit, thus energizing the magnet h. WVhenthe bar 7L7 reaches it lower position, the arm 71 engages a lever hconnected with the switch h and operates the switch to open the electriccircuit and deenergize the magnet and the switch remains open untilagain closed by the arm h as the bar h and block h reach their upperposition; By this mechanism the two screws 5 are accurately fed intoproper position in the holes 1 of the porcelain base as each jig G isbrought into position under the block it and remains there during theinterval between successive movements of the table A.

The screw driving mechanism for driving the screws 5 and thus securingthe shell 4 to the porcelain base 1, is shown in Figs. 2 and 4. As shownin these figures this screw driving mechanism is provided with twospindles f each carrying a screw driverf and each provided with a springpressed guard sleeve The spindles f are secured to driving shafts f bymeans of pins f passing through the spindle and engaging longitudinalslots f in the shaft and each spindle is held yieldingly in positionwith the pin f a ainst the lower end of the slots by a spring The shaftis made in two sections connected together by a friction bearing f Thelower section of the shaft is forced against the upper section by meansof a bolt 8 passing 11 Ward through the upper section of the sha t andprovided with a justing and lock nuts f upon its upper end. The uppersection of the shaft is continuously driven from a pulley shaft f withwhich it is connected by gearing f The upper section of the shaft andthe bolt f are connected to rotate in unison by means of a pin f passingthrough the shaft and through a slot in the bolt. By this constructionthe spindles f are independently driven and each spindle may continue toact upon the corre sponding screw until that screw has been properlytightened when that spindle may cease to rotate by reason of thefrictional connection between the sections of its driving shaft, whilethe other spindle may continue to rotate until the corresponding screwhas been driven home.

The spindle driving shafts and pulley shaft f are mounted in a slidefguided in ways formed in the overhanging arm f 14 which projectslaterally from the central standard of the machine. This slide isreciprocated by means of a crank pin f 15 carried by the constantlyrotating shaft? and engaging a transverse slot in the back of the slide,the slide being forced yieldingly upward by a spring f (Fig. 2).

frictionally The screw shell 4 is held firmly in position plurality ofscrews and it will be also under during the operation of the screwdriving mechanism F upon the screws 5 by means of a centering andpositioning plate f 18 which isprovided with a downwardly extendingprojectionf for fitting within the screw shell and with an annularflange f for engaging the upper edge of the screw shell. This plate iscarried by rods f 21 which extend up into the slide f and the plate isheld yieldingly in normal position by its weight. \Vhen the slide fdescends the plate f is brought against the end of the screw shell 4carried by the jigs G then in position under the screw drivingmechanism, thereby accurately positioning the screw shell with relationto the screw driving spindles. During the continued downward movement.of the slide f the plate rides up the rods y" to allow the slide and thescrew driving spindle carried thereby to move downward with relation tothe plate f" so that the plate acts to hold the shell in position duringthe driving of the screws 5.

The shaft h which operates the screw dehvering mechanism is continuouslydriven from the shaft f by means of bevel gears h" which connect theshaft f with a short shaft h which is in turn connected by gearing hwith the shaft h: The shaft f is driven from a shaft i through a bevelgear t secured'to the shaft i and engaging a gear t, which is secured toa vertical shaft t and engages a gear i on the shaft f. The shaft i isprovided with a gear t" through which the shaft may be connected to anysuitable source of power.

The intermittent movements are imparted to the table A through a ratchetwheel 15 secured to the under side of the table and hav ing a number ofteeth corresponding to the number of jigs on the table. This ratchetwheel is acted upon by a pawl t which is pivoted to a slide 15 and isheld in engagement with the ratchet wheel by a spring 25. The slide isguided and supported upon a bar 75 carried by an arm t which projectsfrom the center standard of the machine. The slide is reciprocated by acam i which is secured to a shaft t and is engaged by a roll t carriedby the slide and held in engagement with the cam by a spring t. Theshaft i is continuously driven from the vertical shaft t through thegears t.

While I have shown the various features of my invention embodied in amechanism constructed and arranged to simultaneously deliver a pluralityof screws to recesses in the parts carried by the supporting jigs andprovided with screw driving mechanism constructed to simultaneouslydrivea plurality of screws, it will be understood that the broaderfeatures of the invention are not lim ited in their application tomechanisms constructed to simultaneously operate upon a l I I stood thatthose features of invention relating to the feeding and driving of aplurality of screws may be embodied in mechanisms differing inconstruction and arrangement from the mechanisms illustrated anddescribed. It will also be understood that various changes andmodifications may be made in embodying the features of invention indifferent forms of machines best suited to the requirements andconditions under which the machine is to operate and best adapted forthe special character of the work to be done.

l/Vithout attempting to set forth in detail the various constructionsand modifications in which the features of my invention may be embodied,what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. An assemblingapparatus comprising a screw driving mechanism, a series of workcarrying jigs, screw feeding mechanism, mechanism for bringing the jigssuccessively to the screw feeding mechanism and then to the screwdriving mechanism, and mechanism for intermittently operating the screwdriving mechanism.

2. An assembling apparatus comprising a screw driving mechanism, screwfeeding me chanism, and devices for presenting the work successively tothe screw feeding mechanism and then to the screw driving mechanism.

3. An assembling apparatus comprising a work support, screw feedingmechanism for delivering a screw to a recess in the work, a screwdriving mechanism, and means for moving the work support from the screwfeeding mechanism to the screw driving mechanism.

4. An assembling apparatus comprising a screw driving mechanism, a workcarrying jig, screw feeding mechanism, and means for bringing the jigto'the screw feeding mechanism and then to the screw driving mechanism.

5. An assembling apparatus comprising mechanism for simultaneouslyoperating upon two screws, a series of jigs for carrying the parts to beassembled and presenting them to said mechanism, mechanism forintermittently advancing said series of jigs, and mechanism for feedingtwo screws to the parts to be assembled.

6. An assembling apparatus comprising mechanism for operating upon aplurality of screws, a series of jigs for carrying the parts to beassembled, mechanism for intermittently advancing said jigs, andmechanism for feeding a plurality of screws to the parts to beassembled.

7. An assembling apparatus comprising a screw driving mechanism providedwith a plurality of screw driving spindles, a series of jigs providedwith devices for holding the parts to be assembled in proper relation,

mechanism for feeding a plurality of screws to the parts to beassembled, and mechanism for bringing the jigs successively to the screwdriving mechanism.

8. An assembling apparatus comprising a screw driving mechanism providedwith two screw driving spindles, a series of jigs provided with devicesfor holding the base and screw shell securing nuts in proper relation,mechanism for simultaneously feeding the shell securing screws to thebase, mechanism I for successively bringing the jigs t0 the screw lfeeding mechanism and t0 the screw driving mechanism, and mechanism forintermittently operating the screw driving mechan- 1sm.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 21st day of April1906.

NORMAN MARSHALL. In the presence of 1 IRA L. FIsH, KATHARINE A. DUGAN.

